Many service providers and suppliers of materials and goods have standing contracts with large customers, which outline the general terms under which they do business. These standing contracts are sometimes referred to as “blanket orders” and they refer to a contract between a vendor and a customer that is not line item specific. A standing contract is a means of setting aside a sum of money to a specific vendor that a company or an operating unit within the company may use on a recurring basis for services or consumable supplies over a specific period of time. Once the standing contract is in place, services and materials can be ordered against it, in accordance with an established policy. For example, a customer may have a standing contract with a telecommunications services provider under which orders are placed for expanding an existing system or provisioning a new facility.
In the normal course of business, orders are processed by personnel and systems where errors might be introduced. Any discrepancies between the order and the standing contract are not discovered until the customer is billed and finds that the order contains specific terms and provisions that differ from the standing contract. When this happens, there is a high likelihood that there will be a dispute regarding the terms of the contract and/or order and how much the customer should have to pay. This can lead to dissatisfied customers and the loss of future orders.
In order to avoid disputes with customers and identify high-risk orders before they become a problem, a system is needed that alerts management of orders that may potentially become a problem. The methods presently used for identifying high-risk orders do not adequately address the problem and do not provide a means for implementing preventive actions before an invoice is sent to a customer. Accordingly, there is a need for a method that screens new orders and compares them to existing contracts in order to ensure that the terms are in agreement.